1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of building construction and more particularly to a modular roof structure for a building.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modular roof structures are known in the art. FIG. 1 is an illustration of a conventional modular roof structure that includes a grid system which has a plurality of horizontal beams (11) provided on main beams (10) in a parallel manner, and a plurality of roof tiles (12) disposed on the horizontal beams (11) in an overlapping manner.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each of the roof tiles (12) has a curved front end (122) which is partially capped on the horizontal beam (11). An adjacent roof tile (12') has a hooked rear end (121) which overlaps the curved front end of the roof tile (12), and a securing nail (13) is hammered through the hooked and curved ends (121, 122) in order to fasten the roof tiles (12, 12') on the horizontal beam (11).
The following are the main drawbacks of the above described conventional modular roof structure:
(1) The roof tile in the conventional modular roof structure is made of steel, and is therefore heavy. It is tiresome to carry a plurality of roof tiles when fixing the roof tiles on the grid system. PA1 (2) In order to facilitate the flow of rain water, the conventional roof structure is generally inclined. While fixing the roof tiles on the horizontal beam (11), the worker must climb up the beams (11), as shown in FIG. 2, in order to hammer the nails so as to fix the roof tiles on the beams (11). This involves danger and thus, the worker can not fully concentrate on the fixing operation, thereby downgrading the quality of the roof structure. PA1 (3) The nails in the beams are susceptible to rusting due to rain water. This shortens the useful life of the nails, thus causing the untimely disengagement of roof tiles over a short period of time. PA1 (4) As illustrated in FIG. 3, a single nail is used to secure the two adjacent roof tiles on the beam (11). The lower roof tile may turn upward relative to the upper roof tile when a strong wind blows from a lower side of the lower roof tile. This can cause the two adjacent roof tiles to collide with one another, thereby resulting in damage to the conventional modular roof structure.